Library to offer free legal clinics

The chesterfield County Library System will present a series of free legal clinics Sept. 23-Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Chesterfield Library.

The clinics will allow residents of Chesterfield County to get answers to their questions about many common legal issues. Each clinic will consist of a 45-minute presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session where audience members can ask a lawyer for advice.

The program is free of charge and is open to the public.

The first clinic will be held Sept. 23. It will cover health care powers of attorney. Living wills, DNR orders and powers of attorney. The clinic will be conducted by Andrew McLeod of Harris, McLeod & Ruffner Law Firm.

The second clinic, on Sept. 30, will discuss family law and will be conducted by Trey Cockrell of Cockrell Law Firm.

The financial clinic on Oct. 6 will cover wills, estates and probate and will be conducted by Andrew McLeod.

“I hope that everyone will come and take advantage of these opportunities to have their questions about legal issues answered, “ said Drusilla Carter, director of the Chesterfield County Library System. “We are especially grateful to Andrew McLeod and Trey Cockrell for donating their time and expertise.”

The program is funded by the South Carolina Bar Association.

For information, call the Chesterfield Library at 623-7489.

http://www.thecherawchronicle.com

One-time state attorney general candidate dies at 83

DANVILLE -- Charles O'Brien, the 1970 Democratic candidate for state attorney general who narrowly lost to Evelle Younger, died Sept. 3 at his Danville home. He was 83.

O'Brien was born Sept. 1, 1925 in Lawrence, Mass. He enlisted in the Army at 17, serving as an infantry machine gunner in World War II, where he earned a Purple Heart. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was part of the effort to liberate Nazi concentration camps, said his son, Brennan O'Brien of Walnut Creek.

After the war, O'Brien received his law degree from Harvard University and began practicing law in San Francisco. He worked as a defense attorney at first, but "switched sides" to become a prosecutor after a particularly troubling case. According to his son, O'Brien successfully defended a man who had gotten drunk and hit a woman with a car, breaking both of her legs. "It was because the other lawyer was completely incompetent that my dad was able to get (the driver) completely off. After that, he said, 'I'm not doing defense anymore,' " Brennan O'Brien said.

Charles O'Brien joined the attorney general's office in 1959 and stayed through 1970, leaving for brief stints to serve as executive secretary to Gov. Pat Brown in 1960 and to help with Attorney General Stanley Mosk's campaign for re-election in 1962. He served as second in command at the attorney general's office under Mosk and his successor, Thomas Lynch.

In 1970, O'Brien was the Democratic candidate

to succeed Lynch. A central campaign issue was how best to deal with student unrest over the Vietnam War, Brennan O'Brien said. "My dad's position was that we need to show (protesters) that they have a place at the table, that the system is capable of addressing their concerns if they come to the table," he said.

Charles O'Brien and Younger also disagreed on policies regarding the mafia. There was widespread concern at the time that East Coast gangsters might expand their influence to the West Coast, a worry O'Brien shared and sought to address via state law enforcement.

Younger argued that the attorney general's office was wasting muscle power fighting an unfounded concern, Brennan O'Brien said.

Brennan O'Brien, who at the time was a student at Green Valley Elementary School in Danville, recalls how, during the campaign, the media and Secret Service descended on the then-rural San Ramon Valley. Security guards escorted him and his siblings to school.

"It was very surreal to see reporters surrounding my dad, just this regular guy," he said.

Charles O'Brien lost the election by 86,000 votes out of more than 6.2 million votes cast.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Marie Theresa Fox; his children: Brennan O'Brien, Devin O'Brien of Moraga and Erin O'Brien of San Jose; and nine grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Monday.

Memorial donations can be made to Community Solutions, a nonprofit human services organization run by Erin O'Brien, at P.O. Box 546, Morgan Hill, CA 95038.

Reach Jeanine Benca at 925-847.2125 or jbenca@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Decision time nears

While Rep. Frank Pallone was surely playing politics the other day about U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, his point was not a bad one: Is it a conflict for Christie to be both U.S. Attorney and a de facto Republican candidate for governor?

Pallone, a Middlesex County Democrat, wants the U.S. attorney general to look into what he says is Christie's dual role of law enforcement official and political candidate. Whether Michael Munkasey, the attorney general, will do that is debatable. But we gather that Pallone really doesn't care. We think he's raising the issue to make a point here in New Jersey. That point is that as long as Republicans are talking about a gubernatorial candidacy for Christie, his law enforcement role is being compromised.

Christie, a former Morris County freeholder and a Mendham Township resident, has said he likely will make a gubernatorial candidacy decision after the November election. On that, he's been consistent.

Pallone is right, however, in suggesting that many Republicans are acting as if a Christie candidacy is a sure thing. For instance, the Morris County Republican establishment has just about ignored the gubernatorial candidacy of Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Mendham Twp., because its favorite is Christie. Various polls show Christie running in a statistical dead heat with Gov. Jon Corzine.

The problem is that being the state's chief enforcer of federal law and a gubernatorial candidate are incompatible. While it's true that the average voter is thinking about the presidential election, not the gubernatorial election, the noise coming from political insiders may make it imperative for Christie to make a decision about 2009 sooner rather than later. That will render criticisms like Pallone's moot.

[Thanks: http://www.dailyrecord.com]

New laws allow greater IVF access

SINGLE women, lesbians and infertile couples will have greater access to fertility treatment and surrogacy under new laws introduced into State Parliament.

The laws, which will face a conscience vote of MPs before they can be passed, will mean infertile couples will no longer have to travel interstate to have babies through IVF, donor insemination and surrogacy.

The laws will also give legal recognition to the parents of children born through assisted reproductive technology, that is, the non-biological parents of such children.

The changes were among the recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission after a four-year review of the Infertility Treatment Act, and were introduced by Attorney General Rob Hulls into Parliament yesterday.

"This is about updating our laws, bringing them into the 21st century but ensuring that the interests of children born of these arrangements are absolutely paramount," he said.

Potential parents who had committed "serious" crimes, such as child sex offences, would not be eligible for treatment or surrogacy but would have the right to appeal against any decision.

The new laws would allow surrogate parents to apply to the County Court or Supreme Court to be recognised as parents.

Under the current law, single women and lesbians have to be declared clinically infertile to be eligible for IVF in Victoria but, unlike infertile heterosexual couples, they cannot use donor sperm from a clinic.

Melbourne IVF medical director John McBain said this meant many women travelled to states where they are allowed access, such as NSW, to be impregnated.

Felicity Marlowe of the Rainbow Families Council applauded the Government's move. However, Rob Ward, state director of the Australian Christian Lobby, questioned whether the laws were "really in the best interest of children".

[Thanks: http://www.theage.com.au]

Porn Can be Found on Hard Drive by Computer Forensics and Used to Imprison You!

Police Investigators are now cracking down on illegal porn and throwing hundreds of people in prison for having illegal images and videos on their computers... Illegal porn can be found by Computer Forensics in minutes... no matter how hard you try to get rid of porn and try to delete it they will still find it. It can cost you your job, family and even imprisonment!

Yep you read right! Computer Forensics can now easily find traces of porn that you downloaded! It could take them some time but they can gather every piece of porn that you downloaded or uploaded from cds to your computer and use this as evidence against you in court! As you know porn is highly illegal in some countries especially things like child pornography, bestiality and other stuff that sounds pretty discusting but i am pretty sure that there are some people out there who gets off on that stuff...

All of this stuff can and will put you to prison if it is found on your computer by Computer Forensics and no matter how hard you try to get rid of porn from your computer and delete porn fragments from your pc it will still leave traces of files buried deep in your hard drive and Forensics or even an average IT can find it in a matter of minutes... ALL OF IT!

Do You Get The Point...? Its time to get rid of porn from your computer for good and there is only one known way that can actually delete porn no matter how spread out it is on your harddrive and clean out all porn fragments and sub categories. You can Download it and test it for FREE and its called Porn Terminator... It will delete porn forever and if you happen to get under suspicion from police for having illegal pornography on your computer you will be in the clear but you better hurry and get rid of porn from your computer right this instant with PORN TERMINATOR!

The Police and the Government is cracking down on illegal porn, especially child pornography so i sugget you do something about that and delete it before you may go to prison! Thousands being caught this year already for child porn and other illegal graphics so i suggest you get rid of porn as fast as you possibly can !

By: Valeri Tkatchenko